BMW

“German Design – The Future of Mobility” – Event in Los Angeles

August 6, 2013 by Cornelia 1 Comment

GACC (German American Chambers of Commerce) will hold a half day conference on “The Future of Mobility – How German Design will Move Us.” This half-day Design Event will take place in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood on August 13th, 1pm – 8:30pm.

Design has long since crossed the border from being only aesthetically innovative. These days it has proven to be essential as a provider of solutions for the challenges of our time.

Germany has been an important influence on international design since the German Bauhaus school (1919-1933). The school favored simplified forms, rationality, functionality and had an influence on art, architecture, and industrial production design that was unmistakable.

With Germany’s 2011 decision to abandon nuclear energy completely, Germany has become an example of an economy based upon renewable energy.

This August conference promises to highlight current trends in mobility solutions, discuss their impact on human behavior, and will explore electrical cars, e-bikes and airplanes. German and American design experts will introduce their ideas and applications during this half-day conference, which invites to meet and mingle with the renowned designers at a special networking reception after the program.

The spotlight during this conference will be on the new BMW i3 model with eDrive, which will serve as an example as a sustainable vehicle designed for urban areas, and which is driven purely by electric power to meet the demands of sustainable and emission-free mobility.

For Tickets please register at the GACC website !

Click here for a list of speakers or a program overview

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Article Source: GACC West, Süddeutsche Zeitung,

Photo Source: BMW

BMW Brings Its Premium DriveNow Service to the United States

August 29, 2012 by Cornelia Leave a Comment

Have you been wanting to drive a BMW around town without paying the premium price tag of buying one from your local BMW dealer? If you are living in the San Francisco area, you finally have the chance now that BMW is bringing their premium DriveNow car sharing service to town. 70 BMW electric ActiveE cars will be available at 9 San Francisco locations by this September (many are actually available now) and ties in with the companies ParkNow service that allows drivers to reserve a specific parking spot near their destination.

While BMW isn’t the first company in the United Starts to offer a car sharing service, what sets them apart from competitors such as ZipCar is the fact that you can pick up the car at one location and drop it off in another. As an added bonus, users of the DriveNow program will receive the ParkNow service for free at the 14 nearby locations and will be also able to recharge the vehicle for free at any approved charging stations.

So how much does it cost to drive around in the electric ActiveE BMW? To signup you need to pay a $39 activation fee which is common with all car sharing services, and then $12 for the first 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drivers pay 32 cents per minute of driving time and 13 cents per minute if the car is parked. That comes to $21.60 for the first hour and $19.20 for each extra hour of driving. To compare, driving a gas-powered BMW 328xi with the ZipCar service would cost $15.25 per hour. BMW is obviously being very competitive with their pricing for what they are calling a premium service.

The price actually gets better if you plan to rent the car for an entire day. For $109 using ZipCar, you can drive up to 180 miles before paying an extra 55 cents per mile. DriveNow is actually cheaper for the same 180 mile daylong rental. For $90 you get the same deal with all the added benefits of the parking and charging stations.

If you want to experience the luxury of driving around in a premium BMW, you now have a cheaper alternative if you live in San Francisco. The service initially launched in Germany back in June 2011, and BMW is quickly expanding the service to cities around the world. If the popularity is anything like that in Germany, you can expect to see BMW expanding to more US cities in the near future.

Source: Forbes
Photo by BMW

Article Source: German Pulse

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BMW DriveNow electric car sharing program launches in San Francisco (digitaltrends.com)
BMW Group Announces Launch of ParkNow Mobile Parking Service and Details DriveNow Car-Sharing Service, Featuring 70 All-Electric BMW ActiveE Vehicles, in San Francisco (prnewswire.com)
Wheels Blog: In the Bay Area, Renting Electric BMWs by the Half Hour (wheels.blogs.nytimes.com)
BMW moves into parking, car-sharing (sfgate.com)
BMW Introduces ParkNow, to Work with Its DriveNow Car-Sharing Service (pehub.com)
BMW Gears Up to Offer Car Sharing and Parking Locator Apps – Bloomberg (blog) (go.bloomberg.com)
BMW offers electric cars in San Francisco (content.usatoday.com)
BMW launches ParkNow mobile parking service; more details on DriveNow electric car-sharing service (greencarcongress.com)
The Streets of San Francisco! (fermanbmwoftampabay.wordpress.com)

L.A. AUTO SHOW – Green, Electric, Futuristic and Sleek

November 7, 2010 by Cornelia 1 Comment

BMW ActiveHybrid X6 — Image by Popov2007 via Flickr

From electric, hybrid to alternative fuel to futuristic concept cars. The L.A. Auto Shows promises to have all that. Among the many cars shown there will be world debuts for a few cars: Mercedes for example will show its Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG for the first time and Volkswagen its Eos.

Opening the doors on the November 19th, the L.A. Autoshow will be open through Thanksgiving and closing on November 28th, 2010.

Visit the L.A. Auto Show website for ticket info and hours.

If you plan to visit on a weekend with the children, then be on the look out for the Kids Fun Zone located in the Kentia Hall. Lots of attractions here for the youngsters that promise to be a lot of fun!

For culinary attractions visit L.A. LIVE loctaed right across the street from the L.A. Convention Center which features 20 venues for music, dining, sports and movies There is definitely no time to get bored at all!

If your particular interest is “Green Cars” then look for the following brands. According to the L.A. Auto Show website these cars will be test driven by journalists in the Green Car Ride & Drive Program: